Tiger rebels using light aircraft bombed military targets in northeastern Sri Lanka early on Sunday as security forces launched a fresh ground offensive after a deadly bus bombing, officials said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) hit two military installations in the Weli Oya region, where security forces launched a new drive against the rebels on Saturday, a top security source said.

Symbolic attack

"They dropped three bombs at two locations and flew back," the source said. "The damage caused is insignificant, but the attack is symbolic. It shows they have co-ordinates of military installations."

One soldier was injured in the attacks, the source said.

The Czech-built Zlin-143 aircraft managed to withdraw unchallenged despite new anti-aircraft defences set up by the military in the island's northern and eastern regions, the sources said.

Hours earlier, the military had used jet aircraft to bomb suspected Tiger artillery positions in the same region, the defence ministry said.

The pre-dawn Tiger air raid on Sunday was the rebels' fifth aerial strike since they launched an air wing in March 2007. Their first attack was against an airbase that shares a runway with the country's only international airport.

Significant psychological value

Sunday's attack was also the first air raid by the rebels in six months. In their last attack, the Tigers used light aircraft to support a commando-style ground attack against another airbase in the north-central part of the country in October, wiping out a large fleet of military aircraft there.

The modified light aircraft the Tigers used on Sunday causes only minor physical damage, but it had significant psychological value in terms of boosting rebel morale and keeping the military on tenterhooks, the sources said.

The rebel air strike unfolded in the northeast as the government warned of more indiscriminate attacks against civilians a day after a bus bombing killed 26 people.

President Mahinda Rajapakse said Friday's bus bomb attack just outside the capital Colombo was the work of LTTE guerrillas, who are fighting a major military campaign in the island's north.

The president in a statement warned that the rebels could resort to further bombings and told residents to be more wary.

A 'large scale' offensive

The Tigers made no comment on the bus bombing, but said on Saturday the military had mounted a fresh assault against their positions in the Weli Oya region.

The Tigers said they were resisting a "large-scale" offensive by troops, while military sources said soldiers were making a fresh advance into rebel-held territory.

There was no official word on casualties, but military sources told AFP that four soldiers were killed and 45 wounded in long-range attacks launched by the Tigers on Saturday. Rebel casualties were not immediately known.

The defence ministry on Saturday reported 19 more guerrillas were killed by security forces in three separate clashes in the north on Friday.

Latest defence ministry figures show 3124 Tigers have been killed by security forces this year. According to official figures, the military has lost 223 soldiers over the same period.

Independent verification of the tolls is impossible since Colombo bars journalists and rights groups from the embattled areas.

The rebels have been fighting to carve out an independent homeland for the Tamil minority since 1972. Tens of thousands of people have died on both sides of the conflict in the Sinhalese-majority nation.

AFP